Max Russo and the Order of the Phoenix
by CrazyWriter.john
Summary: Full description inside
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first piece of fiction ever. It's a cross-over between Harry Potter and WoWP. It takes place during Harry's 5th year (which, for pure convenience, has its timeline changed to coincide with the first season of WoWP). With the exception of, so far, one original character, all characters herein are properties of their respective creators and not of this author. This is a work of pure, imaginative, fan fiction. Any likeness of OCs to real people is purely coincidental and unintentional. Enjoy.**

"I must go downstairs," he said finally. "I must see the Diggorys. Harry – take the rest of your potion. I will see all of you later," and with that, Dumbledore quietly exited the room. He fully intended to see the Diggorys and console them in their time of greatest despair, but he had one more stop to make first.

Dumbledore made his way up to the Owlery and pointed his wand Westward. Had any minor wizard tried to do what he was about to do, the minor wizard would have gloriously failed; Dumbledore was no minor wizard. With a simple incantation, "expecto patronus," Dumbledore had a message going off towards the United States. He was fairly certain Voldemort wouldn't try any overt acts in Britain yet, but one of the greatest flaws of Fudge was that he couldn't imagine a world where England wasn't the center of everything.

Dumbledore sighed and walked back downstairs, bracing himself for the worst scene humanity had to offer – parents grieving for the loss of a son.

* * *

**Manhattan**

Theresea Russo smiled as she walked back into the apartment. Her husband, Jerry, was sitting on the couch watching wrestling. Today was definitely going to be a good day. Max was at soccer practice, and she had already called a family friend to pick him up. Alex and Justin had gone off with some friends to see a movie. It was just the two of them home alone. They hadn't had an afternoon together in years.

"What're you smilin' about?" her husband asked good naturedly.

"I was just thinkin'. You know, Jerry, the kids are out for the afternoon. The shop's closed. It's just you and me. Alone. In the apartment." She moved on to the couch and started stroking his stomach. "We could do anything you wanted…" she promised.

"Honey, pro wrestling's on. Couldn't you do this later?" He stared at her for a minute and then realized what she meant. "Oh, are you talking about…" they both grinned and she leaned in to kiss him when the door opened.

* * *

**England**

Tom Riddle was back. No, not Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle was a commoner. Nothing more than a schoolboy, forced to obey his inferiors, like the orphanage owner who couldn't possibly fathom the power that he held. Or, even worse, Albus Dumbledore – a man who could do anything if he wanted, but chose to sit back and waste away his life teaching snot-nosed children who'd never be able to even touch an inch of his power. Dumbledore scared Tom more than he liked to admit. Not just that Dumbledore was a continual reminder that there was at least one other entity with the power that Tom had. No, Dumbledore scared Tom because he showed how easy it would be to let his life, and great power, go to waste. Dumbledore, brilliant though he may be, was holding the world back. Tom wouldn't let that happen.

But Tom was weak, so Lord Voldemort had to be born. From the ashes of Tom's mediocre existence was born a true hero. One who would be able to righteously cleanse the world of its impurities and allow the superior race of wizards thrive. Tom was dead. Lord Voldemort was back.

Yet he was not without work. No doubt, Harry Potter had already alerted Albus Dumbledore to his presence. However, Voldemort, being incredibly well-informed in the ministry thanks to his well placed Death Eaters, knew that the Ministry was already denying this event. A minor wizard gunning for supremacy might have been annoyed that he wouldn't be able to take the throne wands-ablazin. Voldemort was no minor wizard. He fully intended to make use of his relative obscurity and work behind the scenes to get a foot hold in the world again before he decided to once again challenge Dumbledore, for that is where the true challenge lied.

He had already summoned all of his remaining, free, Death Eaters and intended to use them to start recruiting. He also intended to find out everything the prophecy concerning him and the Potter boy stated. But he had an equally important task in mind too. He had already sent a team of Death Eaters to the States to wipe out the annoying Jerry Russo. Russo had been instrumental in raising an anti-Voldemort movement in what would have been otherwise a very supportive country. With England denying his very existence, nobody would look too closely at a murder in America.


	2. Chapter 2

**Manhattan **

"That's just gross." Alex Russo was eyeing her parents, who had been preparing to share an intimate moment, with mounting disgust.

"Definitely." Justin, her brother, agreed. "Can't you two take it to the bedroom or something?"

"Justin!" Alex slapped her brother. "I occasionally walk in that room. I don't want to have to worry about…ugh! I'm scarred" Alex rolled her eyes at her parents and walked off towards the kitchen.

"Sorry, kids, but we thought you were out seeing a movie." Theresea apologized while disentangling herself from her husband.

"Yeah," Jerry added, "what're you kids doing back so early?" Jerry eyed his daughter with a healthy level of suspicion.

"Well, we would have, if somebody hadn't needed to use the money mom and dad gave her for movies on a new pair of shoes!" Justin glared at his sister with pure venom.

"What? Oh, honey, what have we talked about? You really need to cut back on the spending." Theresea got up and walked towards her daughter.

Just then, the door crashed open and four wizards wearing full black robes with skull masks walked slowly into the room.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Jerry Russo." The lead one started. He looked over quickly at Alex who was reaching towards her wand and shouted "Don't even think about it." Alex stopped.

"Dad, who are these…" Justin started but was quickly silenced by his mother.

"What is this? Payback? You'll never get away with this. You're leaderless and powerless. When Albus gets wind that you're acting again…" but one of the Death Eaters, a female, started laughing.

"Dear, dear, Jerry. Do you honestly think that the Dark Lord would be gone forever? He's back, my friend. We're back. And we decided to pay you a little visit. How's that sound?" The rest of the Death Eaters were spreading out around the apartment, blocking exits out of the room. Jerry desperately looked around, trying to find some way to get his family to safety. He was fairly confident he could have gone toe-to-toe with any of them. Possibly two when he was younger. But four fully trained killers all the while trying to keep his family safe was too much to ask. Alex was too young to be expected to contribute. Theresea couldn't do any magic. Thankfully, Max wasn't here. The only one who could help at all was Justin, and he wouldn't last more than five minutes in this kind of fight. He'd have to knock one out fast, start up a fight with the other three and hope Justin could keep the third one occupied long enough for Jerry to take out one of his opponents and then pick up a fight with the last two. And then he'd just have to hope he could either outlast them until help arrived or try and run for it. If he could knock one out quickly. If he could hold his own against two of them. If Justin realized what he needed to do. Just too many damn ifs.

"What do you want? Money? My silence? You've got it. You've got anything. Just, please, don't" he raised his wand and sent a curse headed right at the woman. She deflected it and closed in to start her duel. Justin, following his father's lead, pulled out his wand and started battling the wizard nearest the doorway. Within a few seconds though, the Death Eater hit Justin in the chest squarely with Avada Kerdavra, suddenly ending the boy's life.

Theresea screamed and rushed for her son, but she too was quickly cut down. Alex stood mouth agape, wand loosely held in her hand. The Death Eater nearest the door looked at her, leveled his wand, and ended her life too. He looked over and saw that Jerry had been overpowered by his three comrades.

"Well, Jerry, this is it. Your family's dead, and you're about to join them. Guess you picked the wrong side, eh?" The woman cackled. The male who was responsible for the three kills so far walked over towards the counter and looked down at a picture. "Hey, uh, Alecto…who's this boy?" He handed her the picture.

"Oh, Amycus, you've done well. Looks like there's one more Russo to deal with, hm? What's his name, Jerry?" She taunted at the wandless and badly injured Russo.

"Don't you hurt him you-" But what exactly she was never came out, for Alecto had decided to end his tirade with a simple killing curse.

"Now then, the Dark Lord wants all of the Russos dead. This is standard procedure work here. I'm going to go report our work to the Dark Lord. You three stay here and clean this mess up. Make it look like an ordinary Muggle killing. We don't need any unwanted attention. When the boy gets home, kill him, then come and join up with me. Amycus, you're in charge." And with that, Alecto Dissapparated back to her master.

* * *

**Elsewhere in Manhattan** **– an hour before the Russo's murders**

"Yeah, Theresea, I can watch Max for a few hours after practice today. No, really, it's no problem. Oh, you're certainly welcome. I'll see you later today then." Jake hung up the phone. Though they weren't related, Theresea had known Jake so long that she actually felt like an aunt. Though he was only 19, and thus only a few years older than their eldest son, Justin, he had always helped look after the kids, especially their youngest, 12 year old Max, whenever they needed.

Jerry, her husband, didn't really like him though. Jake didn't much blame him for that either. It's not that he was a bad guy. He wasn't. He just happened to have the job of a bad guy and work for other bad guys. Jerry suspected that he killed people, and, though Jerry was wrong, it wouldn't be a completely unwarranted suspicion considering Jake's line of work. Jake was a smuggler of dangerous and otherwise illegal magical objects. Most of them Dark, and all of them exceedingly dangerous. On the side, he sold illegal items to eccentric wizards who needed just a bit of mystery for their new mansion ("Oh yes, this is a dragon egg"). His main export, however, tended to be through a collection of very Dark wizards, smuggling them cursed items, illegal animals, charmed Muggle artifacts, and anything else his patrons might need. Jake's rationale was that they'd probably pay a very bad man to get the items anyway, and it was better for a morally ambiguous wizard like Jake to end up with the money than a very Dark wizard.

He had never really had any formal wizard training. Jake spent a few years at Hogwarts before dropping out, after his parents had died. He knew from an early age that his future wasn't going to lie in some sort of real job. So he spent his time there forging enough contacts, both with his now patrons and those who would go off to become members of the Ministry, which certainly helped when he got himself into trouble.

Still, even though the job sometimes demanded (encouraged?) it, he tried not to kill anyone if he didn't have to. Occasionally, if he really needed the money, he might take on a job of "encouraging" someone to pay their loans on time. He had little stomach for the work, but money was money.

He supposed that he could see Jerry's point. If Jake ever had kids, he'd really rather not have any of his "co-workers" hang around them either. The only real reason Jerry tolerated Jake, other than Theresea's insistence that deep down he was a good boy, was that Dumbledore vouched for him, and Jerry practically hero-worshipped the man. Jake had no idea why, but Dumbledore had kept in touch, even after he had dropped out of school, even going so far as to get him off a few charges when he was caught smuggling illegal items into Britain. Dumbledore was even there at his parents' funeral. He really wanted to see Dumbledore again, but one of the reasons he was in America now was that he was slightly wanted in Britain, both by the law and the underground.

He sighed and walked up towards the window. No point in going down that line of thinking. Much as he'd like to go to Hogwarts again, to visit, of course (he couldn't imagine not seeing the Russos for too long), it simply wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Then, as he looked out the window, he saw the most amazing sight – a figure of silver was flying quickly and determinedly towards his apartment window. Quickly, he opened the window to let the thing into his tiny, dark apartment (okay, so money might be a little tight!).

"Jake, this is Albus Dumbledore. I know I haven't been in touch as much as I'd like lately. However, I have a request to make of you – Voldemort is back. I ask that you trust me on this and not the Prophet, which will certainly be disassociating itself with both this theory and me in short time, giving Voldemort free reign to regain a foothold. I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to get to the Russo residence immediately. I fear Voldemort will move to eliminate them quickly. Be on your guard. Contact me as soon as you have secured the family." With the end of the message, the Patronus vanished.

"Guess I'm picking up Max a little bit early." With that, Jake set out to pick up the boy and then swing by the Russo residence a little earlier than they expected.


	3. Chapter 3

**Manhattan – Soccer Practice**

As I neared the Y, I could see that the soccer practice was still in full swing. I walked a little bit closer and signaled the coach over. The coached eyed me somewhat suspiciously. So my light brown hair was a little bit unkempt, and my faded jeans and dark blue windbreaker should probably be replaced. That was no reason to be a complete ass.

"Coach Timmons, my name's Jake. I'm here to pick up Max a little bit early. His mom called and wanted me to get him for her."

"No can do, buddy. The kids don't leave with anyone but their parents unless they tell me otherwise." Okay, so he was just looking out for the kids' wellbeing. Any other day I'd have just been stoked that he cared so much. Right now I just needed the kid, which alleviated some of my guilt when I pulled out my wand and waved it once in front of his face.

"I think that's everything you need to see." His dazed, vacant expression was all I really needed, but the half-smile and the slight nod weren't exactly unwelcome. I walked straight past him and called out "Max! Get over here."

The boy ran towards me. Okay, I'll admit it. Out of all the Russo children, I liked Max the best. I dunno what it was either. He wasn't the smartest. Justin and Alex were certainly sharper, both in their own special ways. He wasn't the best wizard either. Again, Justin and Alex were just much more clever…each in their own special little ways. He wasn't even a "good" kid. He'd gotten in trouble so much that I'd have guessed he was trying to take Alex's title. He was just likeable.

"Yo, Jake, what's up? Practice is still goin' on." He smiled. I guess I liked that he liked hanging out with me. Well, being 19 has its advantages, and every 12 year old on Earth is just thrilled when a 19 year old wants to hang out with them. The attention was nice.

"Sorry, bud, change of plans. You're coming with me right now. Get your stuff and come on. No goofing around, hear? I suppose he could hear the urgency in my voice, because, unlike every other time I went to get him, he was ready in under a minute. He hadn't even bothered to change back into his regular clothes.

"So, what's up? Where're we going?" We walked towards the street, and I started hailing a cab. Even if money was kind of tight, making good time was way more important than saving cash by walking. Besides, I could always charm the driver. I didn't mind doing stuff like this in special circumstances. Or when I was broke. Lucky for me, this fell into both categories.

"Nothing major, I hope. We're going to your place." A cab came by, and I ushered the boy in. After quickly making sure his seatbelt was on, I told the driver to take us to Waverly Place. I just hoped this guy would make good time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Waverly Place**

"It is so cool when you do that!" Max was always excited when I used magic, and he liked seeing me take advantage of the cabby.

I grinned and looked down at him. "Don't tell your father I did that."

"Are you joking? I like you being around. I tell him you do that, and he'll probably try and ground us both. Or just me twice." I laughed. Kid was funny. We walked up towards his apartment, and something just didn't feel right. I dunno what it was, but something wasn't right. He was walking towards the door, but I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Max," I said very quietly, "I want you to listen to me very carefully. I want you to stay behind me. If I tell you to run, you run. You don't look back, and you don't worry about me." His expression took on one of fear and confusion.

"It's just my home." At least he knew enough to keep his voice down. I nodded, but didn't say anything. Look, things didn't feel right to me, and that was good enough for me. I wasn't going to scare this kid half-to-death though over just a feeling. A quarter-to-death was just fine.

I took my wand out and slowly turned the knob. Carefully, I opened the door and peered through the crack. Nothing. I kept Max behind me and opened the door more widely. Still nothing. When the door was fully open, and I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, I stepped inside, still keeping one arm on Max.

"Hello? Mom? Dad?" Max called out as we walked inside. "I thought you said they were here."

I closed the door behind me and took another step inside. I steered Max towards the kitchen as we examined the place, looking for his family. He looked up at me. "Where's everybody."

Before I could answer, something moved in my peripheral vision. Normally, I'm not this jumpy, but normally Dumbledore doesn't send me a message that a hit squad might be coming to town. I pushed Max down behind the counter and ducked. Behind me, the wall exploded in green light as a killing curse slammed into the wall.

"Looks like we've got company, boys." A black robed wizard started forward, wand level with me. Two more came from upstairs. This was going to be fun. "Looks like a Muggle's come home with the boy." Okay, so he apparently didn't see my wand and didn't know who I was. Fine by me.

"Woah, what did you just do? Was that magic?" I said rather convincingly. One of the Death Eaters laughed and pulled out his wand.

"Let's show this Muggle a little bit of magic." The short, fat Death Eater raised his wand towards me. First rule of dueling – wherever your opponent is about to fire, don't be there. Max was crouching behind the counter, and the three were focused exclusively on me. Time to not be here. Using a technique that had basically won me every single fight, I quickly dodged the ensuing curse by Rapid-Apparating right behind him. I pulled out my wand and nestled it up behind his forehead and shot a quick stunner into him.

The other two had their wands out and were eyeing me carefully. One tall and one medium. "This guy's no Muggle." The tall one said.

"Well, no shit, Sherlock." I fired off two quick stunners, not really intending either to land. I wasn't disappointed either. Both were quickly parried. I had two basic points – one, show off how quickly I could cast. Two, see their reaction time. The tall one was a little bit slow to parry the stunner. Either he was trying to fake me out, or he wasn't used to actually having to work in a fight. Probably the latter. The medium one looked pretty solid though. There'd be no quick win with him.

So, rule two, evaluate the situation. Working for me was Tally was slow, and I probably had more recent dueling experience than either of these guys. Plus, they knew nothing about how I fought, and I could probably guess that they were both used to just using killing curses to end fights before it could go most anywhere, although Medium definitely knew how to handle himself against someone like me. Working against me was that it was two against one now, I was trying to protect a kid, and I'd really rather not kill anyone if I didn't have to. My odds had been worse, but not much.

We were trading minor curses and parries now. Tally wasn't just slow on defense, he was abysmal, but Medium was looking out for him pretty well. That meant he wasn't stupid either. He knew that keeping his buddy up and moving, even if he was terrible, gave him the best chance of taking me down. We were circling each other. I guess Medium was in charge, because Tally was just following his lead with a few tests. They were trying to feel me out. Well, rule three was formulate a plan based on rule two. Basic plan in a 3 vs 1 is knock one guy out, engage the other two, try and knock the second weakest one out and then you're in a 1 vs 1. I had already done step one. Time for step two.

Tally and Medium fired two killing curses at me in quick succession. One Rapid-Apparation later I was behind Tally and away from both curses. I pointed my wand at Tally's back and, just as he turned around, a loud bang and flash of light were emitted from my wand, leaving him screaming in pain on the ground.

Two down, one to go; time to find Medium. I looked behind me in horror as Medium had Max in his arm with his wand pointed at the boy's head.

"Drop it."

"You touch one hair on that boy's head, and you're not going to live to see the inside of Azkaban." I would have probably just alerted the authorities, but if the boy died I was going to make Medium hurt a lot before I finally killed him.

"He'll still be dead. Now drop the wand." I'm not stupid. I drop the wand and Max dies. I do nothing and Max dies. I shoot a curse, and it's too slow, Max dies. I'm really fast but miss, and Max dies. I needed to be really fast and accurate to save his life. Apparently, today was my lucky day, because as I pulled my wand up shot my curse towards the Death Eater, it hit. Not quite quickly enough, but, thankfully, Max had the presence of mind to bite the Death Eaters' hand, forcing him to shoot his killing curse harmlessly wide.

The Death Eater fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his thorat and Max ran towards me, clinging to my waist. I don't blame him. That had to be a hell of an ordeal. I had forgotten Tally though. Tally, wanded again, darted past me, grabbed his two fallen comrades, and Disapparated all before I could stop him. Terrible in a fight though he may be, but slow at running he was not.

* * *

**Waverly Place – Aftermath**

I sat Max down on the sofa. He was still shaking terribly and wasn't speaking. My first inclination had been to go to his room, get his stuff, and then leave this place. The scene in his bedroom wasn't what I had expected though. Apparently, after killing the rest of the Russo's, the Death Eaters had moved all the bodies to Max's room. Further, they had decided to make the killings look Muggle by taking a knife and stabbing each of them. The scene was enough to make me gag. Before I could stop Max though, he had seen it too.

He hadn't cried, although that might have been better. He just sat there on the couch, eyes not moving, mouth not opening. Just shivering, as if he were only cold.

"Max…" I stopped. Max what? Max, I'm sorry that your parents were brutally murdered and then their bodies desecrated because I opted to go and get you first? If I had come here first though, could I have even saved them? Now I'll never know. Jerry, Theresea, Alex, and Justin all dead because I wasn't fast enough. Damn it, but life just wasn't fair. They didn't deserve this. Max didn't deserve this. I growled.

I guess Max thought I was angry with him, because he yelped and jumped backwards. He had seen me use magic before, but nothing like what he had seen there with the Death Eaters. I guess he had never really realized what could be done to a person. And then seeing his family after all that, well, if the boy talked again I'd consider myself a miracle worker. But I didn't have time for miracles now. I needed to lie low and contact Dumbledore.

"Max, it's too dangerous to stay here. I'm going to pick you up, and then we're going to hit the street. I'm going to get us as far out of the city as possible, alright? We're going to stay in a hotel for a few days." I took his silence as consent to touch him. With one arm supporting his weight, I left Waverly Place, wand out and ready to use in case any Death Eaters came back to finish the murder of the Russo family.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Well, this is the end of what I have at the moment. I can write more if anyone actually likes this one. Any feedback, positive or negative, would be absolutely great.**

**England**

"Master," a hooded figure approached Lord Voldemort. This same hooded figure had been delighted to inform her master hours ago that the Russo family was dead. The hooded figure, though rewarded, now approached with a level of apprehension that bespoke volumes of failure before she opened her mouth. "Master, my brother has just returned from the Russo residence."

"You lied to me, didn't you Alecto?" The cold voice said.

"Not…not completely, Master. Jerry Russo is dead, as is his wife and two of the children. But, my brother, he has just arrived back from the Russo residence. I had him wait for the boy to come. He couldn't have been more than twelve, my lord. I though, three Death Eaters were naturally enough for one unarmed and unaware boy." Logic would, of course, not save her from the terrible torture that would surely come from her failure. Still, it amused the Dark Lord to hear her sniveling excuses.

"Naturally. Continue, Alecto. How did this boy best three of my skilled Death Eaters and hoodwink you?"

"Sir, my brother, he says there was another that showed up. He says that this man was like nothing he had ever seen before. Fast with a wand, and he apparated at points to dodge curses. My lord, I have never heard of anything like this before. "

"Alecto, did it ever occur to you to research your targets before moving against them?" It wasn't altogether the worst news he had ever received. Admittedly, three of the four Russos were dead. The twelve year old was almost inconsequential. The Ministry would disbelieve any rumor that Death Eaters had involved themselves in an American murder and would likely chalk it up to a scheme by Dumbledore to disrupt the wizarding world. The boy's savior would likely have come into play anyway at Dumbledore's request, for he was sure Dumbledore is the one who tapped this latest resource.

Really, there was no reason at all to be upset with Alecto. The entire failure was almost a nonissue. Almost. She had lied to him and told him that everything had been taken care of. That had to be addressed.

"Alecto, you lied to me. You told me everything had been completed. If you lie to me, that must mean you don't respect me very much. We'll see if we can't address that." He liked to think that her screams could be heard miles away. Lord Voldemort didn't appreciate being lied to.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, I just sent word to Dumbledore. We'll just need to sit tight until he gets my message." I tried to smile encouragingly to Max, but I didn't really believe myself. Certainly, we needed to sit tight until Dumbledore could either come in person or send a group to move us into safety, but the very idea that our survival was that simple at this point was a bit laughable. I had moved us from rat infested motel to rat infested motel all over New York over the past week, trying desperately to lose anyone who was following us. I figured that the three Death Eaters we'd seen back in Manhattan would probably be it for the time being, but it doesn't kill to be cautious.

Still, the constant moving must've been hard on Max. No real time to grieve. No real time to do anything but follow me quietly. I sat on the bed next to him and threw my arm around him. "Don't you worry. Dumbledore'll have word back to us in no time. Do you know who what is? Dumbledore?" Max shook his head and didn't say a word, but he looked up at me expectantly. Fine. He wasn't ready to talk yet. At least he was recognizing the world around him.

"Well, you see, several years ago, there was a really bad, Dark wizard. His name, well, nobody every really says his name. Anyway, You-Know-Who was very powerful, but also very evil. He believed that he could create a better world by enslaving all the Muggles and killing off wizards with Muggle blood in them. There was sort of a war going on. Mostly, the war was over in Britain. You-Know-Who tried to recruit a lot of American wizards to help him, but your dad put a right stop to that. He was a pretty influential man, not to mention a helluva wizard." Max listened intently as if I was telling a bedtime story. And it was. It happened to be a glossed over, terribly morbid and obscene story, but it was a story.

"Well, Dumbledore was a very old and very powerful wizard too. He was the only wizard You-Know-Who was ever scared of, and when Dumbledore was around, You-Know-Who didn't dare try challenge him directly. Dumbledore and You-Know-Who fought this war without either of them ever being able to truly gain the upper hand. Then, one awful and awesome night fourteen years ago, You-Know-Who was defeated by a one year old child. Nobody knows how it happened, but when he went to kill one year old Harry Potter, You-Know-Who was stripped of all his powers."

I yawned, got up, and walked around the room. It was a small room with a bathroom and two beds in the middle of the dank, dark little hole. I chose to stay in wretches like this because it attracted less attention when I charmed the motel owner to give me a reasonable rate. Besides, nobody here was going to raise too many eyebrows if I disappeared in the middle of the night.

I walked over towards the door and checked to see if my charms were still in place, which they were. I hadn't done anything fancy, mostly because I didn't have time. But if anyone tried to come in here, I'd know about it, no matter where I was. I walked back towards my bed and laid down.

"I suppose it's bedtime."

Max looked at me for a moment and then said "It's still light out though." I could have cried but chose to just smile instead.

"How about this then. I'm dead tired so I'm going to sleep. You need anything, you wake me. Got it?"

He nodded then held up a TV remote, asking an unvoiced question. "Just keep it down," I warned and with that tried to catch up on my desperately missed sleep.

**Motel Room – Hours later**

Seconds after Max had called my name out and shook me, I was out of bed, wand out and ready to curse, jinx, or hex whatever had just entered the room. Okay, so, I had actually rolled over too quickly, fell out of bed, banging my head on the floor in the process, and bruised my elbow by drawing my wand too suddenly, but the point was I was ready for action. After scanning the room and realizing that I hadn't been killed a hundred times over in my comically failed springing into action, I gathered that nothing was wrong.

"Dude, what's wrong?" I was trying to be nice, but my head was pounding.

"I'm hungry. Can we go get something to eat?" I wasn't the worst babysitter/guardian ever, but I had forgotten that kids like to eat regular meals. Or at least one a day.

"It's like midnight. Nothing's going to be open unless you just want McDonalds or something." I hate fastfood as a general rule. I hate going into fastfood places even more though.

"Cool with me. Besides, it's only 8:30"

About 20 minutes later, we were sitting inside a diner. It was one of those all day breakfast places. Like a Denny's, only for people who were just getting off the interstate, but with a "We're just a mom-and-pop place" feel to it. So basically over-priced, mediocre food in a moderately cleaned establishment. I was just banking on large portions.

Max ended up ordering the largest meal they had, and I just got pancakes and coffee. Much as I'd prefer just going to sleep when we got back, since we were out, I needed to be alert. Just in case. While we were waiting for our food, Max was busy cutting into the plastic table with his butter knife – or trying to, rather. Then, the door opened up and in walked the weirdest looking group ever.

There were four of them in all. The first was a tall, well built, dark skinned man in a black trench coat. He was followed by a young girl in ripped jeans and a tight printing fitted tee with pink hair who was loudly popping bubble gum. The two of them sat up at two of the several stools that lined a bar-like area at the front. The next two, who pointedly didn't look at the first two, slid into a booth across from us. One was a tall, lanky figure with long, red hair tied back into a pony tail. The other was an older looking man in a shabby, patched brown leather coat with graying hair. Both groups were talking about seemingly uninteresting topics. Two things caught my eye, or ear as it were.

The first was that, though they had all walked in together, they had quickly separated without so much as looking at each other or us. The other was that they were all English. Shit. I couldn't suspect that every Englishmen I met was an assassin waiting to jump me, but I could guess that four Englishmen finding their way into an all night diner that we just happened to be in were definitely not whatever it is they were pretending to be. Which meant either a huge coincidence or trouble.

I didn't really believe in the former and hated the latter. Our food came, and Max began wolfing down his food while draining his Coke within seconds of the waitress refilling it, much to her amusement. She finally just brought out a pitcher to save time. I hardly touched my food and pretended to watch Max while trying to keep an eye on the other four.

There was a loud crash from the bar as the pink-haired girl accidentally knocked over not just her own but also her partner's plates to the ground. Instinctively, my hand went for my pocketed 

wand. I also noticed that the other two quickly looked over then looked away, confirming that they were trying their best to not look like they were watching them. Hoping that I was just reading too much into things, I looked back to notice Max was done with his food and had finished mine as well.

"I'm going to the bathroom." He announced and started to get up. Four heads twitched.

"Can't you hold it till we get back?" All conversations quieted.

"No, I need to go now." Okay, he had drunk a lot.

"Fine," I sighed and got up.

"I can go by myself." And with that he walked back towards the bathroom. He was definitely getting back to his normal self quickly.

The waitress smiled and brought me the check. "He your oldest?" What the hell? I wasn't even eight years older than him. Did I really look that old? I guess all kids look and sound about the same age until they hit fifteen or so, but still.

"No, he's not mine." I took the check and avoided adding more. I didn't want a conversation, but I also didn't want to give one-word answers that'd make me memorable. She walked off. After a quick head count, I noticed that there were only three of the four Brits still seated. The girl had left. Man, I'm bad at this.

I hopped off and walked back towards the bathroom, hand in my pocket. I opened the door and noticed that he was just washing his hands. "I'll be out in a second, geeze." Without drying them, he walked out and pushed his way past me. "You know, I can do some stuff on my own." The girl came out of the ladies room without saying a word.

After making a mental note to end this little pre-teen "I need my own space" thing that he was falling back into when we got back to the motel, I dropped what was left of my cash on the table and walked out of the diner. We hadn't even turned off the street when four figures left the diner behind us.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: POV change to Max. I'm just playing around with different styles of writing here. Thanks for the positive reviews.**

**Upstate New York – **

He shoved me out the door. I hated him all of a sudden. Not hate. I wanted him to go away though, but I didn't want him to leave. He was trying to take care of me, and that just reminded me. Reminded me that they were gone, that I'd never see my parents again.

I glared down at the pavement. He was keeping one hand on my shoulder, steering me down the deserted streets towards our hotel, as if I had forgotten where it was. Well, I had forgotten but that was no reason to treat me like I was a child. I was 12 years old. I could handle myself. I mean, I could at least walk by myself. I didn't need him to be totally on top of me about everything I did. I liked him before, back when my parents – no reason to think about that.

Suddenly, he shoved me between two buildings. I nearly fell with the force of the shove. Jerk. I glared up at him, but all of a sudden, four figures followed us into the alleyway. I vaguely recognized them as having been in the diner with us. I looked up at Jake._ Protect me, please_ I thought up at him. He looked down at me and squeezed my shoulder.

"People get hurt following strangers. Town like this." He smiled at them. There were four of them. Two of us. Really, there was one of us and me. Useless. Just like at Waverly. I wished I could pull out the wand in my pocket, but I could only think of what happened to my parents. To Justin. To Alex. Please, don't let that happen to me too.

One of the guys, a grey haired guy with beat up clothes just smiled and said "We're not who you think we are." Yeah, right. This was so bunk. I just wished I'd wake up and be in my own bed, away from Jake and all of this. I wished that every time I went to sleep. I still woke up with Jake watching over me.

"Uhuh. And just who exactly do you think I think you are?" Jake was being confusing on purpose. I used to laugh when he did this. Now I just wanted to cry. But I couldn't. No tears would come anymore. Everything was just so strange. Almost like nothing was real anymore.

"We don't have time to explain. You just have to – " Jake punched the grey haired one in mid sentence, toppling him over. He spun and had his wand out, and, before I had even realized he had made a swing, he shoved me to the street. My arm hurt. Badly.

But then the entire alley flashed with red light as the three remaining figures screamed "Stupefy" and Jake flew back a good 5 yards and then fell to the ground, unmoving. I wanted to scream, but I could only look up terrified at our three pursuers. This was it. I was going to die. Would it hurt? Would I see Mom and Dad again? Would Justin be angry? Would Alex laugh?

The grey haired man stood back up and was rubbing his jaw. "Quite a punch. Understandable, but I wished he'd given us a chance to speak." He looked at the other three then down at me. He turned back to them. "Put your wands down! You're terrifying him." He kneeled down next to me. I scooted back towards a wall.

"My name is Remus Lupin." He smiled. He was going to kill me now. I looked back at Jake. He still wasn't moving. I had to save us. I had to be the hero now. I couldn't move. "Behind me are Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill Weasley, and Nymphadora – "

The pink haired one, Nympha-something cut him off. "It's just Tonks" She sounded, what was the word? Indignant.

The Lupin guy looked back at me and smiled again. I guess he thought that it was reassuring to smile before killing me. It was just really scary. I tried to back up more, but the wall was in my way. "Yes, Tonks. Anyway, I'm sorry about your friend there. It really is a shame we had to knock him out. He was rather over-protective of you. Understandable, naturally, but it got…in the way."

In the way? I had to do something now. Jake was in danger because of me. Mom and Dad, Alex and Justin. They were all dead. Was it my fault? I had to help somehow. I thrust my hand into my coat pocket and pulled out my wand. I pointed it up at the man. "S-s-stay back!" I stammered. I knew a few spells. I could hurt him. Maybe.

Lupin frowned and slowly reached towards my wand. He grabbed the end of it and pulled it away. "I'm sorry, I haven't exactly made myself clear here, have I? We're not here to hurt you. We're here on 

Dumbledore's order," he smiled again "Oh, you've heard of him, have you? Well, we're here on his orders to take you and Jake here to safety. Would that be alright?" He was really asking me. He wasn't going to hurt or force me to go. He was holding my wand, but it still seemed like he was asking me.

The black guy, Kingsbolt?, frowned. "Remus, we don't have time for this." He looked back towards the street. I guess he was expecting to be attacked. Mom had always told me to watch out for allies in the city. Is this what she was afraid of?

Lupin waved him silent. "Well? Can we take you and Jake back to Dumbledore?" I nodded. "Sure. Just so long as you don't hurt us or anything." He smiled again and helped me up. Even if he was planning to kill me, he sure was nice.

The girl, Tonks, smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't you worry. Everything's going to be fine right after we get back to England." I gulped. England?


	8. Chapter 8

**Grimmauld Place – **

I was standing inside the grossest looking house ever after the craziest trip ever. Tonight was pretty exciting. We had gotten on magic brooms and flew for hours and hours till we got to England. It was pretty cold outside, and I couldn't have my own broom. The girl, Tonks, had me ride with her while the other three had levitated Jake the whole way back. I was kind of scared at first, in case Jake fell into the water or something. But they were pretty careful. We hadn't talked much the way back. I guess I still expected them to kill me or something. I still did, really. It was possible, right?

But when we got to this house, I figured I was safe. Safe as I could be, anyway. Alex would've made a funny joke about it. I just figured I'd get sick and die in this dump. Justin could probably have told me what I'd catch and why.

I swallowed back the tears and just looked up at Lupin. He made me feel safe. Maybe he'd be my new protector? "He really ought to get some sleep. It's a long flight. Both of them, really." Lupin nodded towards the still unconscious Jake.

"What about eating? Mom'll kill us if she finds out we brought a kid here and didn't let him eat." The red haired one, Bill?, said.

I looked up at Lupin and tapped his arm. He bent down, slightly. I guess that meant he was listening. "I'm not hungry." I had meant to say it loudly, but it looked like only Lupin had heard. It was hard talking loudly anymore.

He smiled again. He did that a lot. "Of course you aren't. Why don't we take you up to a bedroom and get you to sleep? Hm?"

Normally, I hated it when people said I needed to go to sleep. I'd way rather stay up and hang. But I was pretty tired, what with everything that'd happened so far. Plus, I didn't really think they were asking. So I just sort of nodded.

"Right, then. Bill, why don't you go and get your mother, so we can find a place for Max to sleep?" The cool looking red haired kid left without a word. I guess Lupin was pretty much in charge. I looked up at him and tried to talk a little bit louder.

"Is Jake going to wake up soon?" I really didn't like seeing him like that, even if he had been babying me this week. Lupin looked to Tonks who looked to the Kingsley guy who shrugged and said.

"Well, we might want to wake him up with Max in the room. It'll probably calm him down."

We walked into a sort of living room (man, this house is big). They set Jake up into a kind of leaning position against one of its arms. I sat down next to him. Lupin kneeled down and pulled out his wand. "I really hope he isn't too upset. _Enervate!"_

Jake blinked slowly a few times and then rubbed his eyes. He looked around slowly, first down at me, and then at the other three. One of his hands went in his pockets, looking for a wand I guess. The other hovered protectively near me. I wish he wouldn't do that. I wish he'd leave me alone. I wish he didn't make me think about what had happened every time he tried to look out for me.

"What…where…what do you want with us?"

"Ah, yes, I figured we'd get to that. As I had attempted to explain to you earlier, Jake, my name is Remus Lupin and I was, or rather did, move you to a safe-house on the orders of Albus Dumbledore. With me are Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt." Jake snorted. I wiped at my nose with my palm. Ever since that broom ride, my nose had been kind of stuffed. It was pretty cold.

"And I'm just supposed to take your word on that, am I?" Jake looked ready for a fight again. My face and neck felt hot, but I couldn't help but shiver a bit in the house. It really was pretty drafty. "If you brought us here on Dumbledore's orders, why'd you stun me, where's my wand, 

and where's Dumbledore? And who're they?" From the other room walked back that Bill guy and a shorter, kind of fat looking woman that must be his mother.

Lupin looked like he was trying really hard to be calm and not get into a fight. "To answer your questions in reverse, those are Bill and Molly Weasley, two more of Dumbledore's allies. Bill helped escort you back here. Dumbledore is currently very busy, as I'm sure you've gathered, but he is due to drop in tonight, presumably to speak with you. Your wand is with me. If you promise to not curse anyone, you may have it back." Jake nodded and Lupin pulled out his wand and handed it over to Jake without pausing. "I stunned you because, as I'm sure you can attest, you were not about to let a group of strange wizards take you and that boy anywhere without a fight, which, though perfectly understandable and commendable, was about to prove to be a hazard."

"Where exactly did you bring us?"

"England." I coughed out. My throat felt soar, probably from all the snot I'd been trying to swallow down. "They took us to England." I coughed again.

The mother-person, Molly, walked over to me. "Is he alright? Goodness, he sounds sick." She rounded on the others. "You took him on a broom ride across the ocean without him wearing even so much as a jacket." She looked really angry and her voice started to rise. "I'll have words with you later." She reached a hand out towards me and tried to pull me up. "Why don't you come off to bed."

I shook her hand off and looked up at Jake. Lupin seemed alright, but I wasn't sure about these other people. She was different than Jake and Lupin. Jake was pretty cool, and Lupin just looked like I could trust him. This Molly person was like a mother. I didn't want to be around her. She reminded me too much. "Come now dear, don't be silly. You need to get to bed." She reached out again.

Jake growled. "He stays with me."

"Now, really, he needs to get to bed. He's coming down with a cold." She reached out again. This time, Jake was on his feet, wand out.

"He's not going anywhere." There wasn't a lot of movement, but I could see that everybody except Molly had a wand out pointed at Jake. There was a lot of shouting for him to put it away. I smiled a little bit. At least he was still protecting me.

A quiet voice cut through the room and made everyone go silent. "Put the wands away. Now." Standing in the doorway was an old man with half-moon shaped glasses and dark blue robes. He was tall, and had long, grey hair with a really long grey beard too. Nobody had to say anything. This was Dumbledore.

Without hesitating, Jake put the wand in his pocket and sat down close to me. Everyone else put their wands away too. Slowly, more people started to walk into the room. One guy had a peg leg and the craziest moving eye ever. There was an older looking woman who walked in, a gaunt (Justin taught me that word) looking dude with messy hair, and all sorts of other people. The older guy, Dumbledore, started talking. I guessed this was some sort of meeting. Everyone seemed to be listening to him. He was sort of introducing everyone and something about a phoenix, a Moldy-Wart, and all sorts of other things I didn't really understand.

After only a few minutes, I fell asleep in Jake's lap.


	9. Chapter 9

**Griummauld Place – **

I heard Jake's voice shouting from below me. My eyes flicked open. I was in a bed, and somehow I had gotten into my pajamas, although I didn't remember ever having changed. It was dark outside, but there wasn't a clock near me, so I couldn't see what time it was. I was still kind of shivering, even under the blankets, but my face was damp with sweat, and I could tell the pillow had my sweat on it too.

I hopped out of bed, on to the cold floor. I wanted to see what Jake was yelling about. I could hear some other voices too, but I couldn't make out really what they were saying. I walked towards the door and opened it. Light hit my eyes, and it hurt for a second while my eyes adjusted to the light. As I was stepping out, I looked around the hallway. To my left was a staircase with five people standing around it.

There were three boys and two girls; two of the boys looked identical. The other boy was tall and awkward looking. They, and one of the girls, all had really red hair. The last one, the other girl, had bushy, brown hair. All of them were holding what looked like really long strings of skin up to their ears that went downstairs. It didn't look like any of them had noticed me. Without meaning to, I coughed. They all looked up, startled, and looked at me for a second.

One of the twins sighed. "Sorry, mate, you nearly gave us a heart attack. Just thought you were Mum or something." I guess I looked a little bit confused because he added, "We're trying to spy on the meeting downstairs."

I just stared at them. I realized they probably thought I wasn't talking because I was scared, but really, my throat was just sore. The brown haired girl took a step towards me, and I jumped back a little. Okay, so maybe I was a little freaked out still, but my throat was sore. She stopped.

"No, don't be frightened. My name's Hermione Granger. This is Fred, George," the twins, "Ron, and Ginny Weasley."

"That's right, " Ginny started, "there's no reason to be scared. Mum told us that there'd be another boy staying here. That other man, the American, he's your friend, isn't he?"

"So does that mean you're an American too?" The tall one asked. They all started to walk towards me. I nodded, hoping they'd stop crowding me.

"Is it true that Death Eaters killed your family?"

"And that you've been on the run from them?" It was hard to tell the twins apart. I kept walking backwards. I wished they'd leave me alone. Who were they? I didn't even know where I was.

"Ah, no, mate, you might not want to keep going backwards. You're about to step on Kreacher." I turned around after Ron warned me, and saw a small, dirty, goblin looking creature inches behind me. This was it. I screamed and bolted right passed them down the stairs. When I got to the bottom, I ran through the first door I saw.

I slammed the door behind me and looked around. There were at least twenty people sitting around a table all staring intently at me. Some of them I recognized from when I first got here. Most of them I didn't. No one said anything for a minute. Then I heard a familiar voice.

"Heya, Max, how about I take you upstairs?" Jake was smiling at me, but it looked forced. He turned towards an older man sitting at the head of the table and glared. "I'll finish with you later." Jake came over, put a hand on my shoulder, and steered me out of the room without anybody else saying a word.

We walked slowly upstairs. "Sorry about all of this. I really didn't mean for you to wake up alone here, but, well, you fell asleep when we first got here so I thought I may as well just put you to bed. Plus, you had that fever. Guess it was pretty cold on the way over, eh?" He paused for a few seconds and looked down at me. I didn't really want to talk right yet. "Well, after that, after you were in bed I mean, I sort of had to listen to what Dumbledore and the others had to say. I mean, about…everything." He stopped again. Had they talked about what had happened at Waverly? He rubbed my back. It was reassuring. "Still, sorry about how you woke up. What scared you though? I could hear you screaming."

I shook my head and croaked out, "Nothing. I mean, it's nothing now."

He frowned. "You sound terrible. You really ought to lie down some more. You've only been asleep a few hours. Here, let's get you back to your room." We reached the top of the stairs. The other people were still standing there. They had been whispering, but as soon as we reached the top, they all stopped talking and stared at us. Then, they all started in at once with apologies and how they hadn't meant to scare me and that they just wanted to talk. It was hard to concentrate with all of them talking at once like that. I started coughing again.

"Guys, I know we're the new kids on the block and that's interesting and everything, but Max here needs to get to bed. So will you all please keep it down and not bother him until he's had a chance to sleep for a bit? After that, I'm sure he'll be more than willing to talk or play or whatever tomorrow, alright?" He sounded annoyed. Jake was never annoyed. Jake had been really different ever since Waverly though.

He walked me towards the bedroom and opened the door up. It was still dark in here. He guided me towards the bed and helped me get in it. "You are safe here, you know. It's okay to talk again when you feel like it." I just realized I hadn't been talking since I woke up. Was Jake annoyed with me? "I can stay in here, if you want." I stared at him from the bed.

He sighed and said, "Right," and moved towards the door. "I'll give you some space."

"Wait." I coughed again. "Stay for tonight. Please?" He smiled and walked back towards the bed. With a wave of his wand, a chair appeared next to the bed that he dropped down into.

"I'll be here when you wake up." I rolled over and closed my eyes. I knew I was safe.


	10. Chapter 10

**Grimmauld Place – The next morning**

I woke up and Jake was, as he promised, still in the room. But he'd somehow managed to fall asleep in the chair he'd made last night. It was light outside, so it was probably morning. I didn't really want to wake Jake up, but I didn't want him to have to sleep in that chair either. It didn't look comfortable. I tried to move him to the bed, but as soon as I touched him, his eyes opened up.

"What's the matter?" He asked and rubbed his eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." My throat was still really scratchy though, and I bet it sounded like it. "I was trying to get you into a bed though."

He laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm up anyway. How're you feeling though? Your throat still sounds terrible." He reached out a hand and touched my forehead. It felt like ice. "And you're still running a fever." His smile was replaced with a frown.

"Well, my body still kind of hurts."

"Alright, get back into bed." I was going to tell him no, but he pushed me into the bed. "I don't want you getting up just yet. I'm going to go downstairs and get you something to eat. Then we need to talk about some things, alright?"

He walked out the door and closed it behind him. I laid my head back down on the bed. Well, this sucked. I was stuck in bed here. But I guess that might be better than being out there. Lupin seemed alright, but I wasn't really ready to talk to the other people. I wished Jake would quit babying me though. He kept treating me like he had to take care of me or something now. I liked it better when he was just a cool big brother or something. But that was gone. Mom and Dad, Alex and Justin, they were all gone. Everyone who used to take care of me was gone. Now all I had was Jake, and I just wanted him to be back to normal.

My eyes started to tear up, and I rolled over to look at the wall. I didn't want anyone, especially Jake, to see me crying when he came back in. I stared at the wall, counting in my head. By the time the door finally opened back up, my eyes were dry. I rolled over to see Jake carrying a tray with food and a drink on it.

"Now, I want you to eat, but first, drink this." He held out a flask with a green, smoking drink in it. I wrinkled my nose and raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh, come on now, drink it. It'll make your throat feel better, I promise." I rolled my eyes, gave him a "whatever" and drank it. It was warm going down, but it felt like everywhere it touched hurt stopped hurting.

"See, there you go, now eat up. I need to talk to you." I started eating while he talked. "I told you about Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, and Harry Potter, remember?" I nodded through a mouthful of eggs. "Well, he's back. Right now, we're in the base of the Order of the Phoenix. I don't know how much you heard last night before you fell asleep, but that's basically the group that's going to fight him and his followers. They're lead by Albus Dumbledore, I don't know if you remember which one he is, but he's the older man with the beard."

"He was the one you were shouting at last night." Jake nodded after a second of staring at me. Maybe he didn't know I knew that. "How come you were fighting with him if he's in charge?"

"He's in charge of the Order, not of us. We're not part of the Order. And, well, that fight is a little bit private for right now. Anyway, they, that is to say the Order, have invited us to stay here right now. I wanted to ask what you thought about that. It's safe, well, as safe as anywhere is anyway. I know there are a lot of strangers here, but it's better than me taking you to a different motel every other night, trying to stay hidden. If you want to go back to that though, we'll leave right now." It really was up to me. He did just want me to feel safe. I smiled up at him. All the food was gone, and I was finally full.

"Sure. I mean, we can stay for a little bit right? Anyway, if it's really bunk, we can just leave. If that's alright, I mean." He nodded, but I don't think I gave him the answer he wanted. Too bad, he shouldn't have asked.

"Right, well, how about we go downstairs, hm? You can meet some of the other kids here."

"Is, what's his name, Harry Potter going to be here too? I mean, if this is the people who fight this really bad wizard, and Harry Potter's the only person who ever beat him, he'll be here, right?" I still didn't quite understand everything. I mean, he'd only be a few years older than me now, and he had beaten a wizard who was now alive again that scared everyone this badly? It just didn't make sense.

"He's not here right now, but I think they, the Order, are going to bring him in a few weeks." We started to walk towards the door. I stopped. I had just realized something.

"Hey, uh, Jake? I'm still just in my pajamas. Can I get dressed first?" He opened the door.

"The rest of your clothes are downstairs. I didn't feel like unpacking last night." Something was still bugging me though.

"I changed downstairs? How come I don't remember that?" I thought for a minute and then turned red. "Oh," I said realizing. "Nevermind" Jake laughed and we walked downstairs. I was probably the youngest person here. Not only was I walking downstairs in my pajamas, something that only kids wear anyway, but I had been changed into them last night while I was asleep. Man, I hated being the youngest kid at home, and now everyone else was going to treat me like that here too. I couldn't wait to leave.

We walked down the stairs and walked into the same room that I had barged into last night. This time, though, there were just the kids sitting at the table eating what looked like lunch. Jake walked me towards a chair and then sat in the one next to it.

"Hey, everybody, this is Max and I'm Jake. We're going to be staying here with you all for a little bit." Jake was just trying to start a conversation and introduce me, but he seemed a lot more interesting to them than I did.

"Hey, cool, so are you in the Order too then?" One of the twins asked.

The other twin piped up. "You're an American, right? I didn't know there were American wizards in the Order."

"Um…" Jake didn't look like he had expected a conversation about this stuff. He can be slow sometimes.

The bushy haired girl rolled her eyes. "Of course American wizards would be just as interested in combating You-Know-Who as we are. Don't you all ever listen to anything Dumbledore says?" She sounded kind of like a know-it-all.

"No," the tall one said, "we have you for that. What do you mean though?"

"Well," the girl began, "Dumbledore has been saying for a while now that we need to extend our friendship to foreign wizards to help defeat-"

"Woah woah and woah." Jake cut in. "Guys, I'm not part of the Order. That's not really my thing."

"Yeah, Hermione, didn't you hear him yelling last night?" The twins started to laugh. Then there was a loud bang that silenced them. Standing in the doorway was that short, fat woman with the red hair. Probably their mother.

"What did you say?" It was more of a growl than a question. I recognized that tone. Someone was about to be in a lot of trouble. "And how exactly did you hear what was going on in the meeting last night?"

"Well, uh, Jake, how about you show me where my clothes are?" I wanted to get out of there fast. He took the hint, and we sneaked around the now enraged mother and the two twins who were busy trying to head her off with excuses.

"Well, ah, here's your bag. There's a bathroom down the hall. Why don't we wait until things have calmed down a bit before we go back in, hm?"

I walked off towards the bathroom to get changed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Two items to address before I continue – firstly, to answer one of the questions, yes, this will be the fifth Harry Potter book (including characters) with my own personal view of what would happen if the basic premise I've set up were to occur. This includes interaction with the Harry Potter characters, which will likely end up being a fair amount since they're the best view of the wizarding world we get throughout the books. Although, bear in mind that Max, being 12, won't get to experience the same classes or day-to-days as the rest of the cast, so it won't just be Harry Potter plus a tag along. **

**Secondly, I have a question for anyone actually keeping up with this. Would you prefer me to write, say, ten thousand words at a time before I update it, or do you prefer me updating it with 1-2 chapters at a time? The only difference will be that the first option will probably space out updates at about a week each. **

**Thanks for all the pleasant comments, and I hope you enjoy the rest.**

**Grimmauld Place – Weeks later**

It had been a few weeks since we'd first gotten to Grimmauld. I ended up spending most of that time cleaning with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George. Apparently, this whole place belonged to one of the Order members named Sirius Black who was on the run for murdering a whole bunch of people (but he's innocent). Anyway, he hadn't lived in the house for years, so the entire place had gotten really gross. We normally worked with the Weasely's mother, who seemed kind of in charge of the whole housework stuff. It was neat at first, dealing with all the magical stuff that was in the house, but we weren't allowed to use magic to do any of our work. That was pretty bunk.

It turns out that all wizard kids in Britain have this thing called a Trace on them, which pretty much makes it so that if they ever use magic outside of school, the Ministry (that's the government and one of the Order's enemies) knows about it. Since I was born in America, I didn't actually have a trace on me, but one of the only times I saw Dumbledore, he warned me to never ever show off that I didn't have a Trace on me. He didn't get angry or yell like Dad would, but I could tell he was really serious about it.

Jake still said he was refusing to join the Order. The owner of the house, Sirius, said that we shouldn't be living here if Jake didn't want to join up. They got into a pretty big fight about it before Lupin broke it up, but I figured out that Dumbledore was the reason we were allowed to stay here. I didn't really want to leave. Jake said the Order was bunk. I liked living here though. Everyone was nice and friendly. And there was cool stuff when we weren't cleaning.

It was dinner time, and we had just finished cleaning out one of the upstairs bedrooms. It turns out that Harry Potter was supposed to come and stay with us soon. Tomorrow night, actually. Jake had been shut up in his room all day, but we heard voices while we were cleaning up there. Mrs. Weasely said that he was talking with Dumbledore. Anyway, Jake came down when we were about halfway through eating. He looked really angry.

"Want anything to eat, dear?" Mrs. Weasely didn't seem to like Jake, but she was always polite to him anyways.

"No, I'm fine." He turned and looked at me. "Say, Max, how would you like to get out of the house for a little bit tomorrow? I have to go and do a quick errand in London. What do you say, want to tag along?" Right after he'd finished though, the rest of the Weaselys started talking.

"Wait a minute, we've been in this house all bloody summer! Can't we go to?"

"What do you say, mate? Mind if we come too?"

"Yeah, can we go?"

"Please?"

"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Weasely slammed the pot she had been cleaning down on the counter. "None of you are going. You know full well that these kids are too young to be in the Order, and you're going to practically drag them along on one of the jobs?"

"Molly," it was really weird hearing Jake talk to her like that, "I'm not going anywhere dangerous. You know what I'm basically doing. Max has been in this house for weeks and doesn't know a thing about the magical world because of where and how he was brought up. I thought it might be nice to give him a little bit of a life lesson. If you don't want your kids to go, that's fine, but I'm taking Max."

"Fine. None of my children are going. I think you're making a huge mistake though." She started muttering something about being irresponsible and went back to cleaning some dishes. Sirius looked over at Jake though.

"How exactly do you plan on walking through Diagon Alley tomorrow anyway? As I understand it, you're a wanted man too."

All of the Weasely children and Hermione stopped eating and listened. I didn't know Jake was wanted either. "Well," he started, "I don't think I'll have too much legal trouble. That was a few years back, and I thought Dumbledore was able to get a lot of those charges knocked down."

"I didn't mean wanted by the law, Jake." What was Sirius talking about?

"Oh, that kind of wanted. I think that might actually help. Makes making contact easier anyway, eh?" Sirius laughed. Mrs. Weasely looked like she was about to curse both of them.

"Terrific, you're going out tomorrow, looking for a fight, and you're bringing a twelve year old right into the middle of that. Great parenting skills you've got there. I can definitely see why you and Sirius get along." She threw the pan into a cupboard and left, banging the door as she went. Sirius and Jake looked pissed.

Everyone else looked scared. Fred and George were the only ones who spoke. "So, what're you wanted for?"

"Yeah, what'd you do, mate?"

"And what do you mean not wanted by the law?"

"I kind of smuggled certain dangerous or otherwise illegal items for people with lots of money. You know, in case someone suspected that their house might get raided, I'd be willing to take it off their hands for them for a few days, or if someone needed a certain something that the Ministry didn't let people sell, I might be able to find a certain someone with a more open view of commerce."

"In English, mate?" Ron looked confused. Hermione answered him though. She looked as angry as Mrs. Weasely.

"It means he sold or hid Dark objects for Dark wizards. Isn't that right?"

Jake laughed. "In a nutshell, yes. Hey, now don't give me that look." Hermione was glaring at him. "These people were going to get the items anyway. Best that they don't pay some curse-crazy Dark wizard for it, right? I never killed people if I could help it, and I didn't take jobs that involved too much of the Dark Arts. Unless there was a pretty someone involved…"

"That's disgusting."

"Hermione, pipe down." Fred was angry too.

"Yeah, we want to hear the rest of the story."

"Continue, please." It was weird, but Fred and George could almost be the same person and not just in looks.

"Well, ya see, about two years ago, I happened to have in my possession a certain substance that was to be deemed illegal, and I happened to know a certain someone who wanted to buy this illegal substance, although why Cursed Dragon's Blood is illegal is still beyond me."

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with it being exclusively used in poison making." Hermione still looked angry. Fred and George glared at her again.

"You know, I seem to recall it being something like that too." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, anyway, few members of the Magical Law Enforcement squad tracked me down and found the blood on me. I was arrested and stood trial. Well, I was expecting to do some time in Azkaban, but old Albus Dumbledore showed up at my hearing and was able to plead the case down to a misdemeanor offense. I only got a fine."

"Then what do you mean by being wanted? It sounds as if you already paid your punishment."

"Well, isn't it obvious, Ron?" Hermione seemed meaner to everyone when she was angry. "He didn't pay the fine."

"You are correct. I did not. Hey, now look, it was still more money than I really had to spare. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't stay in England much longer. I had seriously pissed off the Malfoys by getting caught and screwing them out of some pretty expensive stuff they'd already paid for, which sucks since they were pretty regular customers." Hermione was on her feet now.

"You worked for the Malfoys!" It wasn't even a question. Who were the Malfoys anyway? "I can't believe you're staying here with us! And then after Dumbledore goes and gets you out of trouble, you vanish into the night. I'm sure that made him look real good after vouching for you. You're scum." The rest of the table was silent, staring at Jake. He smiled and shrugged.

"And you're kind of cute." Ron started to stand up and then sat back down.

"Don't." Ron warned him.

"Oh, come on, look. The Malfoys had money. I didn't. I needed money, so I'd go and do some jobs for them, their friends, Ministry employees, whoever needed a job done. I didn't do anything seriously Dark, and I definitely wasn't doing anything that they couldn't get anyway. I was one of a dozen smugglers. I happened to be pretty good at what I did though, if I do say so." Hermione shook her head.

"Who else did you work for, hm?"

"You'd be surprised. I worked for crooks and politicians. Normally, those terms were interchangeable." Hermione sat back down. Even though she seemed to hate him, it didn't look like she wanted to stop talking to him. She was the only one though.

"Why did Dumbledore want to get you off anyways?"

"Dunno. At first I expected him to ask me for a 'favor.' I never would have suspected him of having skeletons in his closet he needed help with, but you never know. Said he didn't need that sort of help though. He just told me there'd come a time when I'd pay him back, no questions asked. Sort of weird, really. I never even thought he liked me that much in school, especially after I dropped out." This seemed to really set Hermione off.

"You dropped out of Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, I didn't really see a need to stay anymore. I wasn't about to join the Ministry or anything. I spent a few years in England and then moved back home to America after the whole arrest thing. Picked up a decent job and been making an honest living ever since in the Muggle 

world." Except when he was charming Muggles to get things he needed, but she didn't need to know about that. He stared at her for a few minutes. "Dumbledore trusts me enough to bring me here. No reason to doubt his judgement."

Sirius decided to join back in the conversation with a laugh. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've doubted him though, would it?" A few of the kids gave really small laughs. This seemed to lighten Hermione up some.

"Well, who'd be looking to come after you then? Surely not just over a few fines."

"With Dumbledore being discredited, I'm sure they'd love to find a fugitive he vouched for and put him back on trial. Make it real public too."

"And be your fault too if his name was smeared more." Hermione added.

"True, it would. There's also the issue of me having pissed off a few in the underground. What do you think all of my old contacts thought? I get arrested. Charges get dropped down. Looks like a cut a nice, fat deal with the law, doesn't it? I'm sure there are a number of scumbags and socialites alike who'd love to put a curse in my backside." Hermione looked at me.

"And you don't think it's wrong to bring a kid with you when you go to try and dig up your old contacts. That is what you're doing, isn't it?"

"You are a sharp one. O.W.L. year coming up, isn't it? I suspect you'll get 12 Outstandings." She blushed a bit. "But no, I don't think there's anything to worry about. Firstly, I don't intend to walk into a back alley and start hustling up information from Death Eaters. I know where to look when digging for information." The door opened and Lupin walked in. He smiled at me and sat next to Sirius. They started talking quietly. Sirius was explaining what was going on. "And secondly," in less than a second, he pulled his wand out, flicked it, had the entire table cleared and cleaned, and had the wand back in his jeans' pocket, "I'm pretty fast with a wand."

Fred and George piped up. "So, mate."

"What sort of information are you looking for?"

"That," Lupin said, standing up, "is confidential information. I really think it's bedtime for everyone. Jake, a word if you please." Jake patted my back and told me he'd be upstairs in a minute to check on me. I followed the Weaselys and Hermione up the stairs.

"Hey, Hermione." I called out. She stopped and turned around.

"Yes, Max, what is it?" I stood there for a few minutes. "Is there something wrong?" I took a deep breath.

"What did that mean? Who're the Malfoys and what's so wrong about what Jake did?" Ginny let out a whistle. Fred and George patted Hermione on the back and laughed.

"We'll let you handle this one, Hermione."

"Yes, best of luck with it." The three of them walked up the stairs. Ron looked at Hermione and shook his head.

"Hermione, don't. Don't you dare do this." Hermione glared at Ron and then looked at me.

"The Malfoys are very bad Dark wizards who work for You-Know-Who. What Jake basically said is that he helped You-Know-Who supporters get things, probably to hurt people." Ron was glaring at her. I looked down at the floor.

Was Jake one of the bad guys? I had always thought of him as kind of like a hero. I know Dad didn't like him, but Dad didn't like a lot of cool stuff. Alex had always been excited when he 

came around. Mom liked him. Justin was, well, Justin. And hadn't he saved me from those Death Eaters? Wasn't he protecting me all the time? Looking out for me? Was this why he and Dumbledore fought all the time? I looked at Hermione. Her face was completely emotionless. "Was Jake – I uh, mean, is Jake one of the bad guys then?" Ron spoke up again.

"Hermione, stop it." He grabbed her shoulder. She shook him off.

"Cut it out, Ron. Max, Jake isn't one of the bad guys, but I'm not altogether sure I'd consider him a good guy." She turned around and walked off with Ron following her angrily. I hurried off to my room, got dressed in my pajamas, and got into bed. When Jake came in, I pretended to already be asleep. He left a few minutes later. I got up and turned the light on. Staring into the racecar that was trying to drive off the front of my pajama top, I wondered if Jake was really as good as I'd always thought.


	12. Chapter 12

**Waverly Place**

I was on my way home. I knew I needed to get home right after school – Dad told me it was really important that I got home right away. And I was trying too, but my feet would hardly move. The street kept going backwards underneath my feet. I was running as fast as I could, and I was hardly moving. It felt like my backpack weighed a ton, but I had to get home as soon as possible.

I got to the crosswalk, and it wouldn't let me pass. I was standing there, running in place to keep the street from sending me backwards, waiting for the crosswalk signal to turn. But the cars just kept coming and coming until it seemed like there was no end to the constant stream of New York traffic. Didn't they know I had to get home? Dad wanted me home now. I couldn't remember why, but it was really important that I get there.

Finally, the crosswalk turned. I started running across the street. I was so close, almost home like I needed to be. It was so important I get there right away, if only I could remember why. I got to the middle of the crosswalk, and all of a sudden, I tripped and fell face first onto the concrete. Nobody else seemed to notice. They just walked passed me, talking on their phones or checking their watches, paying no attention to the twelve year old who just face-planted. The worst part was, though, that even though they didn't seem to be effected by the crazy, moving concrete, I was pushed backwards, away from Waverly. Away from where I needed to be, and it was just so important.

But why? What was so important about me getting to Waverly. If I got there, everything would be alright. I knew it in the pit of my stomach, knew that something was wrong and getting to Waverly would fix everything. But it was suddenly dark outside, and I wasn't anywhere near home. Everyone on the street changed. They had been just going on there way, but now they all grew long, black cloaks, and their faces changed into masks. Their eyes glowed, and they laughed at me, still on the ground but no longer moving. They raised wands at me, laughing.

Suddenly, I could move again. I got up and ran inside the nearest building while they followed me slowly. They were hardly moving, but it seemed like they were always a step behind me. I knew if they caught up to me, I'd be dead. The inside of the building was a long, dark, narrow hallway. I could barely see, and I could feel something sliding around near my feet. Down the 

hallway, there was the most terrible screaming I had ever heard in my life. I didn't want to go anywhere near the screams, but I couldn't stop myself from moving.

I got to the end of the hallway, and there was a door with light coming from underneath it. My hand reached up all on its own and opened the door. Inside was my home. I stepped inside, and there, in the middle of the living room was my family, dead and mutilated, staring with eyeless sockets up at the ceiling. Standing over them was Jake in Death Eater robes, holding a mask and pointing his wand down at them. He was laughing at them, laughing harder than I had ever heard him in my life.

Jets of green light kept shooting down at their dead bodies, and every time they got more horrific. Finally, I spoke.

"Jake, you killed them…" I could only whisper I was crying so hard. There was no way he could hear me over his laughter. But he did. He looked at me and shook his head.

"No, Max, why don't you ask them whose fault it is?"

Then they were all standing around me, their bodies dangling in midair. The socketless eyes stared at me, and they all lifted their fingers. Mom's mouth opened and she screamed.

"It's your fault!" They all started screaming at me, all of them screaming "It's your fault!"

I screamed back at them, crying, trying to tell them how sorry I was until I jerked up in bed in a cold sweat, safe in Grimmauld Place, my heart pounding. I was freezing and soaked from my own sweat, but no matter how many covers I wrapped around myself, I still wouldn't warm. I cried into my pillow, too scared to get up in the dark, until sunlight finally crept in through my window.


	13. Chapter 13

**Grimmauld Place **

When it was bright enough, I padded down towards the bathroom and washed my face. I didn't want anyone to see my face streaked with tears. My eyes were still plenty red, but I hoped no one would notice. Looking in the mirror, I could swear I saw all of them around me still, pointing at me. I ran out of the bathroom and darted downstairs.

It must've been still pretty early, because only Lupin was in the kitchen. He was drinking a cup of tea and reading the Daily Prophet, the wizard newspaper. He looked up at me.

"You're up early. Hungry?" I shook my head and sat down at the kitchen table. I didn't feel much like talking, but I didn't want to be alone. I folded my arms on the table and laid my head down on them. I kept watching Lupin watching me.

"Are you feeling alright?" He got up and moved towards me, but I suddenly jumped back. I didn't want to be touched right now. He shrugged and said "Fair enough," and sat back down. He tried to read the paper more, but he kept putting it down to look at me. I knew he wouldn't bug me if I didn't want to tell him anything.

Not long after, Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen and started fixing breakfast. She was soon followed by her husband and Sirius. All of them looked at me and were about to say something when Lupin shook his head and interrupted them with something else. Pretty soon, the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione came down too. They all started eating breakfast, and, though nobody tried to talk to me much when I didn't respond, they kept giving me concerned looks.

I didn't want to talk about the dream. I didn't want it to be real, and talking about it would have made it more real. Maybe they'd agree that it had been my fault. After all, if I had been home, maybe they would've lived. Maybe Jake would've been able to go to Waverly first and beat the Death Eaters. Or just maybe, if I hadn't liked Jake so much, he never would've gotten involved with our family and the Death Eaters never would've come for us.

I was too tired and too scared to realize I was being dumb. Jake came in and gave everyone a big good morning. He gave me a pat on the back and said, "Heya, Maxy. Ready for today?" I shrugged and looked up at him. I wasn't sure if he was a killer or a savior. Jake looked over at Lupin who shrugged and said "He's been like this all morning."

"Probably just a little nervous, eh?" Jake looked down at me and ruffled my hair. I didn't move away from it like I normally would've. That was babyish, but I was still too spooked from the nightmare to care. "Well, you better get dressed. You can eat afterwards." I slowly stood up and walked out of the kitchen. I could hear them all start talking as soon as I left. I knew they were all talking about me.

Soon I was back downstairs in jeans, a t-shirt, and my white hoodie. Everybody stopped talking again when I walked in. Jake was in an athletic-fit brown tee and some faded jeans. Sirius pointed this out. "Don't you think you're going to run into a bit of trouble wearing Muggle clothes? Him too?"

"Nah, I'm looking to draw a bit of attention."

Mrs. Weasley glared at Jake, still obviously angry. Jake matched her glare for glare. "Don't start." He looked at everyone else. The kids had all gone to get dressed, and Mr. Weasley had gone to work. It was just Sirius, Lupin, and Mrs. Weasley. "We're going to be off. We'll be back later tonight." Everyone wished us luck and told us to be careful. I nodded but didn't say much and stayed near Jake the whole time so nobody would try and touch me again. I didn't want to be touched.

Soon we had stepped outside Grimmauld Place and Jake was taking me by Sidelong Apparation to a place called Knockturn Alley.

**Knockturn Alley – Pub**

Soon we were sitting in a dark, smelly pub. I didn't know its name, but there had been a picture of a snake with a forked tongue on a sign outside of it. Inside were several heavily hooded 

wizards, one really big green thing, and a very pale man sitting in the back corner with the biggest fangs I had ever seen. He smiled at me when we walked in, and Jake had just shoved me into a booth. This was the third place like this we'd been to since getting to Knockturn Alley. Jake had said we were trying to "make contact" and that he needed to be seen a few places before that happened.

Pretty soon, a really pretty woman walked out from behind the bar. She was wearing dark red robes and had shoulder length brown hair. She looked like she didn't belong here. She looked nice. Like an older sister. I miss Alex so much. She came over to us and sat down on the other side from Jake and me.

"I can't believe how stupid you can be." She wasn't angry though. She was smiling slightly and shaking her head.

"So it's working then?" Jake took a light sip from his drink. He had been getting Firewhiskey in every pub we'd been to, but he had been barely drinking. He said the important thing was that it looked like he was drinking a lot.

"Working? If walking into all of your old hangouts to see if someone is actually going to try and collect on you is a plan, then, yeah, it's working. Honestly, I can't believe you sometimes." Jake smiled and shrugged.

"So who did your boss send word to?" He didn't seem upset at all.

"The Shangley brothers are on their way here, but, seriously, Jake, what if you aren't as good as you think you are? And who's the kid? Don't tell me he's yours…I might just get jealous. Maybe." She laughed. It was a really nice, quiet laugh. The sort of laugh that just made me smile. "Then again, maybe not."

Jake grinned and rolled his eyes. "Of course he's not mine. Look, do me a favor. Sit here with the kid for a minute." Jake got up and walked towards the bar. He sat down and raised a hand 

towards the bartender. The bartender, a fat man in dirty brown robes, came over and poured him a shot of something.

The girl looked at me and smiled. "My name's Liz, cutie. What's yours?" She reached a hand towards me, but I jerked back before she could touch me. I shook my head. She looked worried for a second but then smiled again. "You don't like to be touched, do you? No problem. I don't need to touch." I stared at her. "So are you going to tell me your name, or do I have to start guessing?"

"It's Max." I whispered it. Liz opened her mouth to talk, but, all of a sudden, three large men walked through the door. The walked straight towards Jake. "Trouble's starting," Liz muttered. Her hand went into her robes, and she pulled out her wand casually. It would even have looked like she were just holding it to show if her knuckles weren't white from clenching it. The three men didn't notice.

"'Ey, we got a bone to pick with you, Jakey."

"See, we got a boss who ain't too happy with you."

"You 'member bosses, right Jakey-boy? The people who paid for your scum-hide." They all had their wands out, but Jake was still looking at the bartender. He just raised his hand and motioned, and the bartender pulled out another glass and started to fill it up. Jake turned around.

"Thomas, I've got no problem with you. I'm just here for a drink, so why don't you and your brothers walk away before somebody gets hurt, eh?"

"I don't think so, Jake. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Or," one of the other two pointed his wand towards us, "the fun way." The man flicked his wand and a stream of light came flying towards us. I screamed. Liz started to bring her wand up, but it was going to be too late.

Jake was there. Jake was in the way of the light and had his wand in the way. The light exploded in front of him. The other two turned around, seemingly only just aware that he had Apparated away from them. Jake flicked his wand and two of the barstools came alive, attempting to pulverize one of the brothers. Liz grabbed my hand before I could pull it away.

"Time to hide," she motioned under the table. I followed her down there. She waved her wand, and a shimmering barrier was suddenly in front of us. Jake had already Apparated out of sight.

"Where are ya, Jakey?" Suddenly, he Apparated back into view behind them. There was a deafening crack as he pointed his wand at one of the two as a bolt of lightning blasted through the roof of the pub and struck the man. He fell over, blackened and twitching. Thomas sent a black and red curse towards Jake, but he had already Apparated away.

Thomas looked towards us. "A shielding charm, eh? Think that'll stop me, Jake? Crucio!" He screamed and Liz dropped her wand and started screaming. I huddled up as far back against the wall as I could go. Tears were building up. The shield had dropped.

Jake was in the way again and had blocked the curse. The brother who had been getting hit by the stools was now free and pointed his wand towards Jake. He sent that same black and red curse towards an unaware Jake. The curse slammed into his chest, burning a whole through his shirt. He fell to the ground, screaming, his wand falling from limp fingers.

"Haha, nice one, Craigy. Check him." Craig's nose looked like it was broken, and he limped as he walked towards Jake, but otherwise he looked fine. Thomas kept his wand pointed at Jake. Craig leaned down, wand still held back, and started to check for a pulse. With a slight pop, Jake was gone before Craig's hand even touched him.

I looked over and saw Jake standing in front of a very surprised Thomas. His hand snaked out and pounded Thomas's throat. Thomas wheezed and dropped his wand. Jake punched him in the stomach with his other hand and then gave him a good one right in his face, shattering his jaw and leaving him a bloody mess on the floor.

Craig had already pulled his wand up and was about to curse Jake when his hand suddenly cut open and blood started to pour from it. Standing in the doorway was a short, thin man in black robes and a hood pulled up around his face. He flicked his wand again and Craig flew back into the wall and didn't move again.

"We're going before the Ministry gets here." Liz pulled me from underneath the table and we followed Jake and this new mysterious man outside the pub and down the long twisted streets of Knockturn Alley.


	14. Chapter 14

**Diagon Alley**

We kept walking through dark alleys and down narrow streets. Nobody talked. The cloaked man didn't look back to make sure we were following. Maybe he just knew we had nowhere else to go? Liz and Jake were walking quickly on either side of me. Every time I fell behind, Jake would shove me along to try and get me to speed up. He kept looking behind, probably to see if we were being followed. Nobody we passed on the street looked twice at us.

Finally, we walked out of this dark alleyway into a bright lit street. There were people everywhere, smiling and laughing. Children and adults all walking down the cobblestone streets. Jake looked down at me. "This is called Diagon Alley." We kept walking towards what looked like another pub.

"It's called that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do." That was the first time I had heard the cloaked man speak. His voice had a nasally draw to it. I didn't like him. As soon as we walked into the pub, which had a picture of a leaking pot on it, the cloaked man turned towards the bartender and simply said "Private booth." The bartender nodded and lead us towards a booth. We piled inside, me sitting farthest inside next to Jake and Liz next to him. The cloaked man sat opposite us. He waved his wand at the booth's door which instantly shut and locked itself. Then he muttered "Muffliato."

"That should keep us from being overheard."

"Rich, I just got to say, your timing is still amazing." Jake was smiling again.

"You know, right after you left, somebody was telling me 'Richard, you better look out for Jake. He's going to do something stupid like come back here.' You know what I said?"

"Look, Richy-"

"I said 'Nah, Jake has a good head on him. He's not stupid enough to walk back into a town he's wanted in. He's not going to come back looking for trouble, especially when he knows that'll probably get me in trouble. And he's definitely not going to bring a bloody kid with him.'" The man pulled his hood back. He had straight, blonde hair, a long pointed nose, and green eyes. He looked only a few years older than Jake. His face was clean and shaven. "Seriously, Jake, what the hell?"

"Rich, just give me a chance to explain."

"I did a massive favor for you, Jake, even though I knew I shouldn't have."

"I know, and I'm grateful for saving us back there, but-" Rich cut in.

"I'm not talking about a damn bar fight, although I'll have to soothe that over too. I'm talking about getting you a job. I got you a nice, sweet deal with the Malfoys, and that's not an easy job to come by. Good pay, steady work, and what do you do? You get yourself caught by the bloody law! How do you think that makes me look? I knew I shouldn't have done it either, but you were good. Yeah, that's right, I said it, you were pretty good at smuggling and fighting your way out of a tight spot. Well, didn't fight your way out of that one did you? Just left me to burn!" I couldn't understand how nobody could hear the argument outside the booth. Jake didn't seem upset or scared though. He was still smiling.

"Rich, come on, everyone gets caught once. The Malfoys didn't go to jail, did they? Didn't get a fine, did they? Everything worked out in the end, 'cept I had to skip town for a few years. Besides, why do you have to worry about some silly bar fight?"

"Because I work with the Shangleys, you idiot. I have to occasionally deal with those mouth-breathers, and it doesn't help for me to show up and slice Craig up to try and get a wanted man out of trouble, now does it?"

"Fine, don't work with them. Work with me."

Rich looked over at Liz and me then back at Jake. "We're going to need to have a little talk, aren't we?" Jake smiled.

"Liz, would you take Maxy out and show him the town for a bit? Nobody'll be looking for you guys in Diagon Alley. Too many people around. I'll find you guys in a little bit when we're finished here." Jake moved so I could get off the booth. I looked up at him. He seemed so scary all of a sudden. I guess he thought I was scared of being with Liz. Really, I was happy to get away from Jake for a little bit. "Don't worry, Liz won't bite." I hate that joke. "Tell you what, I'll take you for ice cream and buy you anything you want afterwards."

"Jake, I am a little busy. If you'd just hurry it the hell up." Rich sounded annoyed.

Liz took my hand and lead me out of the booth and then out of the pub. She smiled. "Don't worry. We'll have some fun while they have some boring."

**Diagon Alley – Sunset**

We were sitting on a bench. Everything in this place was so cool. Liz had taken me around to all of these different shops where everything was magical. There were flying brooms, spell books, magic wands, potions, everything. None of it really seemed dangerous like in Knockturn Alley either. I had of course seen magic before, but never so much magic in one place. I guess I'd never realized that there were actually magical cities out there. Liz said Diagon Alley was one of the few, but still, woah. Jake had met up with us and, as he promised, bought me ice cream. After I ate one bowl, he went and got me more. He and Liz were talking.

"Seriously, Liz, he's a good guy, even if he can be a little bit annoying. Besides, he's hooked me up with a job again."

"He's shady. I know what kind of business he does."

"Then you know what kind of business I do too. It's what I'm best at."

"But you got out of it. Look, you've heard the rumors. You know basically who you'll be working for."

"Drop it. I need the money, and I don't care who that means I have to work for."

"I'm sure Dumbledore would be proud." Liz got up and started to walk off. She turned around and looked at us. "Thanks for coming to see me though. Take care of yourself."

"You too." She walked off. Jake looked kind of sad. "Come on, Maxy. Let's get back." I was kind of sad too. The ice cream was gone.


	15. Chapter 15

When we got back to the house, I wanted to run back inside right away. Jake threw out his hand and shook his head. I looked back up at him, curiously. There couldn't be anything wrong here – I don't think I could stand anymore excitement for the day. I guess my face showed all the panic I was feeling, because Jake just smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing's wrong, kiddo. I just need to talk to you for a minute before we go back inside." We slowly walked up the steps but stopped at the porch. He looked out at the neighborhood for a moment. I noticed that grownups do this a lot when talking about something they don't like. Collecting their thoughts or whatever. It's really just kind of annoying. They're trying to think of a way to say whatever it is they want without making someone else upset. But most of the time, when they do that, they end up not really saying what they mean. People should just talk.

I started to open my mouth, but Jake's thoughts had all gotten collected; he looked back down at me and smiled again. "How do you like it here?" I just shrugged. What kind of question was that? I had been taken from my home, friends, family – don't think about that – and put in this bizarre who's who of wizards. I hadn't even seen more than five wizards at once until now! He laughed, "I guess I should rephrase that. I mean, do you want to stay here? With them?"

I thought about them all. Mrs. Weasley with her overbearing protectiveness, the twins with their constant noise and pranks, Hermione and her authoritative presence…I didn't feel connected with any of them. They all laughed and were one big family. Every member of the Order seemed to really feel for each other, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. To feel any of the happiness. The only ones I actually wanted to be around were Jake and Lupin, but I couldn't even bring myself to talk with either of them, at least not really. And I can feel their unhappiness and disappoint weighing down on me. I bet they hated me for it.

But even so, I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd want to be. So I nodded and spoke, "I think. Where else is there?" I don't think that's the answer Jake wanted. His face didn't change, but I could see the sadness deep down in his eyes. It was that look that he had started having every time he saw me since Waverly. So I decided to be more definite. I wouldn't make Jake upset anymore. "I want to stay here," I tried to be as firm as possible.

He nodded. His arm was around my shoulder. It felt comforting. "Maxxie, Dumbledore's asked me to do something. Something that's going to keep me away for a while." I looked back up at him. I think I understood what he was saying, but I didn't want to believe it. Maybe I had just misheard. "I'm going to be leaving here in the next few days, and you're not going to see much of me for a while."

I shrugged off his shoulder and walked inside. I could hear him calling after me. My eyes felt hot and my cheeks wet. Why was he leaving me? Did he hate being around me that much? I felt horrible for keeping him here. He was only here for me. Of course, he must hate me now. I ran up the stairs. I heard him calling after me. I could hear other voices too. New voices.

I didn't get off at my floor. Jake would come to that room. Instead, I kept going up. I didn't really know where I was. I didn't normally go up this high. Finally, I got off at a floor, dunno which one, and opened the first unlocked door I could find. Stepping in, I saw Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and one other boy I didn't recognize were there. They all stared at me. I hated them staring at me. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

"Who's this?" The new boy asked shortly. Immediately, I didn't like him. I can't say why either, but just something about him set me off. Hermione answered his question though.

"Harry, this is Max. Max, this is Harry Potter." She said the name expectantly, like I was being introduced to a movie star or something. I just shrugged – I hardly knew who he was. After a few more seconds of silence, she spoke again. "Max, is some thing the matter?" She walked towards me. I think she was trying to be comforting. I took a step backwards and she stopped moving.

I tried to talk once, but nothing came out so I tried again. "If…if Jake asks where I am, can you just tell him you haven't seen me?" The question seemed to confuse her. "Just, if he asks, don't tell him you saw me. I don't want to talk to him right now."

"Sure, but is something wrong?" Why did they want to know what was wrong? I didn't care about them. People you care about leave.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Silence. "Can I stay in here until dinner?" The room was suddenly filled with a murmur of consent, so I went and sat down on the floor. After a few more seconds of silence, their conversation picked back up. I zoned out. I didn't really want to listen to it, but the noise was comforting.

I hated Jake so much. But I knew it wasn't his fault. It was all my fault. And I couldn't even really bring myself to blame him. Of course he'd want to leave. I'd have to be stupid for thinking that he'd want to stick around protecting me forever. It must have been torture for him. Or maybe it was because I never talked to him, and now he was leaving. Maybe it was even that girl? Liz?

Pretty soon, the older kids got up. They were going to go spy on a meeting. I decided to follow a little bit behind. I didn't care about the meeting, but I wanted to be around these people. No, not around all of them. Just the new one. It was beyond weird, but I thought he was kind of cute.


End file.
